Behind the ‘better regulation’ label

The European Commission is looking at setting up a powerful new board to scrutinize and stress-test new initiatives before they are allowed to move through the legislative process.

The idea is included in a draft communication from the Commission to other EU institutions, laying out a strategy for "Better Regulation." According the paper, obtained by POLITICO, the new seven-member body would include three members from outside the EU institutions. But critics say it amounts to a power grab by the Commission at the expense of the European Parliament and member states.

The board would carry out impact assessments of new initiatives and also look at “evaluations and fitness checks of existing legislation," according to the draft. Legislative proposals could move forward only after getting approval from the board.

The paper does not specify who would serve on the board, but said the members “will be selected on the basis of their expertise … via rigorous and objective selection procedures.”

When he took office as Commission president in November 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker made streamlining the regulatory process one of his top priorities. To reinforce the importance of the initiative, he gave it to his first vice president, Frans Timmermans, to run.

The draft document is the first indication of how the Commission wants to meet its goal.

But groups who have been critical of the plans for streamlining regulation say the impact-assessment board would undermine the democratic process and would be too business-friendly.

The board’s power over proposals, the critics further suggest, would essentially give the board a veto right on legislation and marginalize democratically elected MEPs and EU countries.

"We now know what Better Regulation means for Juncker and Timmermans: a massive power grab by the Commission," said Cécile Toubeau, senior policy officer for the green group Transport & Environment (T&E). "The fact is the Commission is demoting the two democratically elected EU bodies, the Parliament and the Council, to the role of Yes Men."

The Commission’s focus is on making sure the possible impacts of a policy are properly considered throughout the legislative process. In the paper, the Commission argues that the new proposals will help avoid back-room deals. And it criticized the European Parliament and member states for failing to fully consider the economic and social impact of the amendments the propose.

“The natural tendency of politicians is to focus on new initiatives," the draft paper's authors argue. "However, the EU is — rightly — judged not just on those initiatives, but also on the impact and burden of existing EU laws."

Said UK MEP Richard Corbett from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group, “We welcome impact assessments but we want them to be comprehensive and not only looking at the costs for businesses of a new regulation but also its impacts on public health, or their social and environmental consequences."